The next day.
The school gymnasium.
All 129 first-year students had gathered there.
Du Qinggang stood at the front with his hands behind his back. "I called your classes together today for a joint training session."
"Today's exercise is simple. You can all see the dozen or so baskets of stones in front of me."
"Starting now, each of you must break ten stones before class ends today."
"As for the rules: first, you can't smash one stone with another."
"Second, you can't throw the stones on the floor. The gym floor is expensive, after all."
"You can only use your own bodies to break these ten stones."
"I don't care whether you bite them with your teeth or hit them with your hands. Even if you blast them apart with a fart, everyone must break ten before class ends!"
"Once you're done, you can rest. If you're not done, you won't be getting out of class today."
Duan Ming looked at the baskets of stones.
Every stone was as big as a head.
The simplest, most direct way to break one was to punch it.
This was probably training for explosive power.
There was little chance of breaking these stones with physical strength alone.
He had to use Qi.
Inside the vast gymnasium, everyone, male or female, had ten head-sized stones in front of them.
Du Qinggang stood in the very center of the gym, watching the students scattered around him.
"You don't need to be so sneaky. I'm human too, and I only have two eyes. There's no way I can see what everyone is doing in every direction without a blind spot."
"If anyone wants to cheat, I can't be bothered to stop you."
"But if you don't get stronger now, all you'll be able to do later is take a beating."
"Barring any accidents, you should all live until I leave."
"Before then, as long as you train according to my methods, I guarantee you won't be any weaker than students in the same year at other Divine Power Schools."
The sounds of fists striking stone rose and fell all around.
Duan Ming looked at the ten stones at his feet and gathered Qi in his right hand.
Then he put all his strength into a punch!
Bang!
The stone on the floor broke into several pieces, and a smear of blood appeared on his knuckles.
That hurt quite a bit...
"Teacher Du, couldn't you make a special exception for the girls?"
Du Qinggang looked at a girl in Class 5 and said with a smile, "Then when you run into a monster in the future, why don't you ask it if it can make a special exception for girls?"
That one retort left the girl speechless and even a little ashamed.
Duan Ming looked away and turned back to the nine stones remaining on the floor.
His right hand was already injured. If he used it again, he would only make the injury worse.
He could try the power of his Divine Mark.
A white Divine Mark lit up.
He raised his fist and swung it down!
Bang!
This time, the second stone shattered more thoroughly than the first.
The force had clearly increased, but it hurt just as much.
Duan Ming tried wrapping some Qi around his fist to increase its defense.
When he smashed down again, the third stone broke apart.
Although it hadn't shattered as thoroughly as the second, the pain was much less intense.
Just then, he saw Dong Kai jump up beside him and stomp on a stone on the floor.
One stomp, and the stone cracked.
A second stomp followed, and the stone broke apart.
It didn't seem to hurt him much.
Black lines appeared on Duan Ming's forehead.
For the first time, he felt so stupid.
He had actually used his bare fist to meet stone head-on.
The people around them followed Dong Kai's example one by one.
Duan Ming did the same.
After all, wouldn't he be an idiot not to use such a good method?
He gathered Qi in his right foot and stomped down hard.
Bang!
The stone shattered into several pieces.
More and more people followed suit.
Du Qinggang didn't say another word about it.
On the battlefield, strength was important.
But even more important was the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Brute force alone wasn't enough.
Of course, if someone was strong enough to defeat an enemy in one move, then he took it back.
One or two girls wearing skirts didn't forget to hold down their hems when they jumped.
He looked around and shouted, "Starting today, any girl who wears a skirt to training again will be punished with a handstand!"
Several boys snickered.
"Why are you taking your shoes off?"
"These shoes are a limited-edition collaboration. I might ruin them if I keep them on."
"You'd better put your shoes back on," said a boy with a face full of pockmarks, pinching his nose with nothing left to live for.
Watching the students complete the task one after another, Du Qinggang looked satisfied.
"First, send the student who hit the stone with his head to the infirmary. Everyone else, gather at the sports field."
"Teacher Du, didn't you say we could get out of class once we finished?"
"Did I say that? Let me hear the recording."
"Everyone, gather at the sports field now! We're training your speed!"
Duan Ming glanced down at the blood that had dried on his knuckles.
"Duan Ming, here."
Zhou Yao, standing beside him, handed him a tissue.
Duan Ming nodded, took it, and wiped the blood off his knuckles.
On the sports field, 128 students stood in three rows.
"Now we'll train your running speed. One lap of this field is exactly 500 meters. Everyone will run two laps, and you all need to finish within the allotted two minutes."
"Two minutes? That fast?"
"It's fast for ordinary people, but for us, we can increase our speed by gathering Qi in our legs. It shouldn't be hard."
Du Qinggang said, "Two minutes isn't demanding for you at all. Strength is important, but running speed is just as important!"
"Yeah, Teacher Du is right. Speed is just as important. Some monsters are very fast. If we run too slowly, we won't be able to catch them at all."
Du Qinggang said with a perfectly serious expression, "Who said speed training was for chasing monsters?"
"What else is it for?"
"What do you think? If you can't beat them, can't you run? The faster you are, the better your chances of getting away in the future!"
Black lines appeared on every student's forehead.
Right.
If it was for running away, they really did need more practice!
That was what almost everyone was thinking.
Before school ended, everyone had met the requirements for the day's training.
The running actually wasn't very difficult.
With Qi, nearly seventy percent had met the requirement on their first run.
The remaining thirty percent also increased their speed after using the power of their Divine Marks and met the training requirement.
A day of hard work sent Duan Ming to sleep quickly.
Late that night, he slew monsters in his dreams!
"What, didn't you go see Duan Ming today?"
"They were training outside all day today. With Du Qinggang there, it wasn't convenient for me to go over. I'll wait until tomorrow. When he's in the classroom tomorrow, I'll go see him."